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The Professional Agile Leadership Workshop is a comprehensive training program designed to equip leaders with the skills and mindset necessary to foster agility within their organizations. Through interactive sessions and real-world case studies, participants learn how to effectively lead Agile teams, navigate complex organizational challenges, and cultivate a culture of continuous improvement and innovation. This workshop emphasizes adaptive leadership principles that empower participants to align business objectives with Agile practices, ultimately driving sustainable growth and success in today's dynamic market environments. Participants gain practical insights and tools to inspire and support their teams on the journey towards organizational agility and resilience.

Leadership style vary depending on the organization, the situation, and even the specific individuals and objective of the Scrum project. Some common leadership styles are as follows – Autocratic, Democratic, Laissez-faire, Transactional, Task oriented, Assertive, supporting leadership.

Autocratic: This kind of leaders maintain strict, close control on followers by keeping close regulation of policies. They believe that direct supervision is the key in maintaining a successful environment. This kind of leadership is used in rare occasions.

Democratic: Leaders falling under this category share the decision-making abilities with group members. This is done by promoting the interests of the group members and by practicing social equality. This leadership incorporates discussion, debate and sharing of ideas and reassurance of people to feel good about their involvement. As per many research this leadership style is one of the most effective and creates higher efficiency, better contributions from group members and increased group morale. This leadership style could lead to better ideas and more creative solutions to problems because the group members are encouraged to share their thoughts and ideas. Though democratic leadership is considered as one of the most effective leadership styles, it does have some disadvantage. It is not suitable in situations where roles are unclear or time is of the essence, as this kind of leadership can lead to communication failures and uncompleted projects. Democratic leadership is most suited in situations where group members are skilled and eager to share their knowledge.

Laissez-faire: Under this leadership style all are provided with the rights and power to make decisions. i.e. the decision making power is fully given to the workers. The laissez-faire style is also called as a “hands off” leadership style because the leader delegates the tasks to their followers while providing little or no direction to the followers. These kinds of leaders let followers to have complete freedom to make decisions with regards to the completion of their work. It enables followers with a high degree of autonomy and self-rule and also offers guidance and support when requested. The laissez-faire leader using provides the followers with all materials necessary to accomplish their goals, but does not directly participate in decision making unless the followers request their assistance. This style is not advised to be used when,

a)      the followers feel apprehensive at the inaccessibility of a leader

b)      when the leader  do not provide steady feedback to their followers

The four leadership styles are Transactional, Task oriented, Assertive, servant leadership.

Transactional: This leadership style was first described by Max Weber in 1947 and later in 1981 it was described by Bernard Bass. This is mainly used by the management.  This kind of leaders focuses their leadership on motivating their employees through rewards and punishments system. There are two factors in this system: 1) Contingent Reward and 2) management-by-exception.

Contingent Reward: This kind of rewards could be materialistic or psychological, to recognize the good performance of the employee(s).

Management-by-Exception: allows the leader to maintain the status quo. The leader comes in action when the employee(s) do not meet the benchmark.

Task oriented:  Task-oriented leaders enforce task completion and adherence to deadlines.  These leaders are typically less concerned about the employees, but  more with finding the step-by-step solution to reach goals. The advantage for having this kind of leader is that it ensures that the given tasks are completed on time.

Assertive: Assertive leaders confront issues and display confidence to establish authority with respect.

Supporting leadership: Supporting leaders use listening, empathy, and insight while sharing power and authority with team members.  Traditional leadership style is based of power by one at the “top of the pyramid.” So whoever is on the top has the control or the decision making power.

The Characteristics of being a supporting leader are as follows:

Listening: A supporting leader should show importance on listening to others.

Empathy: He should understand others’ feelings and point of view.

Healing: A supporting leader encourages each person’s emotional and spiritual health and wholeness.

Awareness: A supporting leader understands his or her own values, feelings, strengths and weaknesses.

Persuasion: A supporting leader influences others through their expression.

Conceptualization: A supporting leader should have the ability to integrate between the present realities and the future possibilities.

Foresight: A supporting leader should have a great instinct about how the past, present, and future are connected.

Commitment to the growth of people: A supporting leader should not think about his personal growth in the organization, he or she is equally responsible for serving the need of others too.

Building community: A supporting leader is to help create a sense of community among people.

The Professional Agile Leadership certification path equips leaders with the skills and mindset needed to guide agile transformations effectively. It focuses on empowering leaders to foster a culture of agility within their organizations, enabling them to navigate complex challenges and drive continuous improvement. Through this certification, leaders gain insights into agile practices, principles, and frameworks that are crucial for steering teams towards delivering customer value efficiently. By mastering adaptive leadership techniques and understanding the dynamics of organizational change, certified leaders can promote collaboration, innovation, and responsiveness, ultimately achieving sustainable business agility.

The Agile Leadership Certification empowers leaders with the knowledge and skills to effectively guide their teams in agile environments. This certification focuses on developing a deep understanding of agile principles, practices, and methodologies, enabling leaders to foster a culture of continuous improvement and innovation. Through comprehensive training and practical application, certified agile leaders learn to facilitate collaboration, enhance productivity, and drive successful project outcomes. By earning this certification, leaders demonstrate their commitment to agile excellence and their ability to inspire and lead teams in a rapidly evolving business landscape. This credential is essential for those aiming to excel in agile project management and leadership roles.

The Agile Leadership Certification is a prestigious credential that underscores the value of effective leadership in Agile environments. This certification equips leaders with the knowledge and skills necessary to drive Agile transformation and cultivate high-performing teams.

How important is Continuous Value Justification in a Scrum Project?

Every project is expected to create some form of business value that outweighs the associated costs

and risks in order for it to be undertaken. But what is business value? And how can one ensure

that the project delivers business value on the expected lines? Business value can be looked at

in financial or non-financial terms such as reduction in costs, increase in revenue, enhancement

in brand value, and increase in satisfaction level among customers, reduction in the number of

complaints, reduction in risks or improvement in organizational capability, etc.

To ensure realization of business value, Scrum relies on continuous value justification. Continuous

value justification refers to assessment of business value regularly to determine whether the

justification or viability of executing the project continues to exist. Business value should be assessed

regularly to determine whether the justification or viability of executing the project continues to

exist. Frequent assessment of investment in the project relative to business value being created

qualifies the continued viability of a project. The expected requirements from the project may

change frequently, which can impact both project investment and value creation.

A key aspect of Scrum is its ability to quickly adjust to chaos created by a rapidly changing business

model. In projects with ambiguous user requirements and significant potential for frequent changes,

Scrum provides considerable advantages over other project delivery models. Monitoring the rate of

delivering value is an important requirement for Scrum projects. Periodically tracking and reporting

the creation of value assists in assessing project status and provides important information to the

customer and other Business stakeholders. Hence, continuous value justification plays a vital role in the key

decision making processes related to the project.